Speaker John A. Boehner of Ohio released his long-awaited immigration overhaul
principles Thursday afternoon, for the first time laying out a broad GOP-backed
pathway to legalized status for undocumented immigrants.

Boehner and other top Republicans have been talking about it for months,
but the document lays out a draft for how Republicans want to take on the
contentious issue, which is splitting their party at their annual retreat
here. The party will discuss and potentially amend the document, and it is
possible that it will not be accepted at all.

The principles stress interior and border enforcement must be enacted before
mechanisms to legalization can begin and notes that Republicans do not favor
a "special pathway" to citizenship for anyone who illegally traversed the
border into the United States. However, it does present options for those
roughly 11 million immigrants living in the country.

"These persons could live legally and without fear in the U.S., but only
if they were willing to admit their culpability, pass rigorous background
checks, pay significant fines and back taxes, develop proficiency in English
and American civics, and be able to support themselves and their families
(without access to public benefits)," the document states. "Criminal aliens,
gang members, and sex offenders and those who do not meet the above requirements
will not be eligible for this program."

Boehner Blasted from the Right on Immigration Overhaul

As House Republicans embarked late last month in luxury buses for their
retreat on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, their ears were already ringing
with angry phone calls. Heritage Action, the political arm of the conservative
Heritage Foundation, was imploring its members to flood the Capitol with
warnings to accept "no amnesty."

The day before, the Tea Party Patriots group set in motion 900,000 automatic
phone calls in 90 Republican House districts, connecting tens of thousands
of voters to their members of Congress. The hashtag #NoAmnesty blazed across
Twitter. About the same time, FreedomWorks, another anti-tax, limited-government
group, was pulling in signatures on its "fire the speaker" petition against
the House speaker, John A. Boehner.

When House Republicans gathered on Jan. 30 to actually read and discuss
Mr. Boehner's principles on immigration reform, his was already a losing
battle.

"Why did we even put these out there?" asked Representative Tom Price, a
respected conservative Republican from Georgia, urging leaders to set aside
the issue until after the November elections.

A week later, Mr. Boehner shelved the issue, declaring Thursday that he
could not move forward with a comprehensive overhaul of the nation's immigration
laws until President Obama won the trust of the Republican conference.

"I would've been surprised if Boehner didn't do that," said Representative
John Fleming, Republican of Louisiana and a leader in the opposition to immigration
legislation. "Few things in politics are as obvious as this one. That's why
there was a collective shrug in conservative leadership" when the speaker
all but declared the measure dead.

Since October's government shutdown, Mr. Boehner has been in open warfare
with outside conservative groups, dealing them one loss after another: reopening
the government, winning overwhelming passage of a budget deal they opposed,
then a trillion-dollar spending bill they loathed, and this week, securing
a new agriculture law that largely kept the food stamp program intact over
the objections of conservatives.

But on immigration, the groups flexed their collective muscles. Heritage
Action and the Heritage Foundation rushed to claim credit. So did Tea Party
Patriots and the conservative activist L. Brent Bozell and his ForAmerica
group, which called for a clean sweep of the House Republican leadership
if it moved forward on the issue.

"I think he feels the heat and has felt the heat," Mr. Fleming said of the
speaker. "There has been a lot of talk that if the speaker had moved forward
and forced members to vote, that would end his speakership. There was not
much point in that."

Let's now turn the spotlight on immigration battles in Europe.

Swiss Voters Approve Immigration Curbs

A narrow majority of voters in Switzerland approved proposals on Sunday
that would reintroduce restrictions on the number of foreigners who are allowed
to live and work in the country, a move that could have far-reaching implications
for Switzerland's relations with the European Union.

Switzerland, which is not part of the European Union, has one of the highest
proportions of foreigners in Europe, accounting for about 27 percent of the
country's population of about eight million. Many job seekers have arrived
from countries hit hard by the European economic crisis.

Immigration has become a polarizing issue across Europe. More prosperous
nations are growing worried that their welfare systems cannot handle an influx
of workers from the economically weaker Eastern European countries.

Far-right parties with anti-immigrant platforms in France, the Netherlands
and Norway have gained strength in recent years, and there have been sharp
debates in Britain and Germany over limiting the number of immigrants from
Bulgaria and Romania because citizens from those countries gained full access
to European Union job markets this year.

The proposal passed with the support of 50.3 percent of those who voted;
56 percent of eligible voters cast ballots. The largest cities, Zurich and
Basel, rejected the vote, and smaller cities and rural areas supported it.

The Swiss People's Party has been particularly skillful at using such popular
votes to push for immigration controls in recent years. After growing pressure,
the government reintroduced quotas in 2012 limiting the number of work permits
that could be issued for European Union citizens.

The vote on Sunday also comes at a time when Switzerland is under intense
pressure from France, Italy and other European countries that want its banking
system to become more transparent. Last year, Switzerland and the United
States reached a deal to punish Swiss banks that had helped Americans evade
taxes.

"It is far more than a political slap in the face," the conservative newspaper
Neue Zürcher Zeitung wrote in an editorial published on its website
after the result was announced. "The Yes to the 'Massive Immigration Initiative'
is a censure that is comparable to No to the European Economic Area.

EU Strikes Back at Swiss Curbs

Stating Switzerland needs the EU more than vice versa, the EU is hitting back
at Switzerland.

The Swiss referendum to halt European immigration has already had its first
consequences. The European Commission halted negotiations with Switzerland
to determine their participation in major research programs and the Erasmus
project worth an estimated €80 billion.

Brussels had warned that freedom of movement between the two governing territories
since 2002 was not negotiable and that if the Swiss government renounced
welcome Croats, as had been committed to The rest of negotiations would decay.

The Commission spokesman has confirmed that negotiations have stalled. "Given
the circumstances of the referendum and in the absence of a clear political
signal the Swiss authorities postponed the meeting," said the representative
of the EU executive.

The European Union had warned that an obstacle to free movement would have
consequences in other integration agreements signed between the two territories.
The EU may repeal or renegotiate agreements that allow Swiss products advantageous
access to the EU market. 60% of Swiss export go to EU countries.

Abenomics to the Forefront: Prime minister Shinzo Abe is
a dream come true for Keynesian and Monetarist theorists. Abe is hell-bent
on destroying the value of the Yen with QE and fiscal stimulus. Abe
Calls for Wage-Price Spiral to Create "Virtuous Circle". How's Abenomics
going? The answer is not well. Prices are only up a bit in spite of a huge
plunge in the Yen.

Competitive Currency Debasement: Central bankers in the US,
Japan, China, Australia, Canada, the UK, Switzerland, and the EU all want
a weaker currency. Mathematically it's impossible. But that has not stopped
the game of beggar-thy-neighbor global currency debasement.